Rudy Terrasas Draft Review

Saturday officially marked the end of the Rudy Terrasas Era in Flushing. He served as the Mets scouting director since 2006.

Terrasas was famously hamstrung by the Wilpon’s unwilingness to go over-slot year after year. That being said, it is still hard to find much good to say about his tenure, which we will examine throughly, beginning today with his first draft back in 06. The Phillies received the Mets 18th pick as compensation for losing Billy Wagner, which they used to select Kyle Drabek. Thus, the Mets did not pick until the middle of the second round, when they selected Kevin Mulvey with the 62nd overall pick.

June 8th, 2006:

Round 2, 62nd overall: Kevin Mulvey, RHP, College: Mulvey, who is now in the Diamondbacks organization, was traded to Minnesota before the 2008 season in the Johan Santana deal, and has spent the last three full years in AAA. He will be 26 in May, so he does not look like much more than a AAAA pitcher at this point.

Round 3, 94th overall: Joe Smith, RHP, College: We all remember Joe Smith, who reached the majors by Opening Day 2007, and enjoyed two solid years with the Mets before being sent to Cleveland in the three-team deal for J.J. Putz before the 2009 season. Smith spent last year jumping between AAA Columbus and Cleveland, and appears to have made a decent career for himself as a ROOGY.

Round 4, 124th overall: John Holdzkom, RHP, High School: Holdzkom showed up his first day as a professional baseball player looking like Napoleon Dynamite. That is really all you need to know. At 6’8, 230 lbs., scouts drooled over Holdzkom’s frame, but injuries, control issues, and some personal problems- I heard he got suspended back in 2007 for trashing the team hotel room or something like that- derailed his career, and he has yet to rise above A-Ball. He last pitched in July for Kingsport. He’s kind of like Bobby Jenks, but Bobby Jenks eventually figured things out.

Round 6, 184th Overall: Scott Schafer, RHP, High School: Schafer threw all of two innings for the Gulf Coast League Mets in 2006. Some vulgar comments on his myspace apparently ending up costing him thousands of dollars upon signing. He was than arrested for DUI the following summer while rehabbing in St. Lucie, and was officially released before 2009.

Round 7, 214th overall: Daniel Stegall, OF, High School: Stegall was a toolsy, two-sport athlete out of Arkansas, with a committment to play quarterback at Miami. His impressive physical tools never translated into production, however, and he was released in the middle of 2009, never making it past A-Ball. He tried his hand at football once again with Mississippi State in 2009, but did not return in 2010.

Round 8, 244th overall: Nathan Hedrick, RHP, CC: Terrassas loved his tall pitchers, and no one seemed more promising than 6’10 220 lb. Nathan Hedrick. Unfortunately, Hedrick had control issues that would put Colt Griffin to shame, and was released by the beginning of 2008.

Round 9, 274th overall: Jeremy Barfield, OF, High School: The Mets did not sign Barfield, who was arrested later that August after shoving his father, Jeremy, down a flight of stairs in the family’s house. He went on to play for San Jacnito College, and was selected in the 8th round of the 2008 draft by the A’s. The 22 year-old spent all of last year in the California League, hitting .272/.339/.417.

Round 10, 304th overall: Phillips Orta, RHP, High School: The Mets waited until the following year to ink Orta, as part of the now extinct draft-and-follow process. Although raw, Orta appeared to have been fairly highly touted upon signing, with Baseball America ranking him as the Metstwenty-second overall prospect heading into 2008. He mostly pitched in relief from 2008-2009, however, posting mediocre stats at the lower levels. He was released before the 2010 season.

All in all, Terrasas gambled on some high-ceiling, high school talent in his first draft, and half the players could not make it from draft day to Kingsport without establishing a criminal record. While the draft might be a total crapshoot, and you are always rolling the dice big time with high school players that are not the cream of the crop, it’s hard not to consider this draft anything short of an abysmal failure. None of the Mets top picks after Smith spent more than a cup-of-coffee in Advanced-A Ball.

The Mets did recoup some value later on in the draft, selecting Daniel Murphy in the 13th round. Dustin Martin, an outfielder selected in the 26th round, helped acquire Luis Castillo at the 2007 trading deadline. Tobi Stoner (16th round), Edgar Ramirez (36th round), and Josh Stinson (37th round), are the only players remaining in the organization.